LETTER: MMC limits

YOUR article "Murdoch's tax: Labour has, er, nothing to say" (3 December) leaves the reader with a misleading impression of where the Monopolies and Mergers Commission's functions lie. The MMC does not have the power to initiate its own inquiries. Its job is to investigate and report on matters referred to it by the President of the Board of Trade, the Director General of Fair Trading or the regulators of the privatised utilities. The MMC has never had the power to comment on or study issues not referred to it by one of the above.